The Nun's Priest's Tale

Geoffrey Chaucer

A widow, poor and somewhat advanced in years, dwelt once in a little cottage
that stood in a dale beside a grove. Since the day she was last a wife, this
widow of whom I tell this tale had lived patiently and simply; for her goods
and earnings were small. By managing carefully what God sent, she provided
for herself and her two daughters; she had three large sows and no more, three
cows and a sheep named Molly. Her bedroom and living area, where she ate
many slender meals, were rather sooty; she never needed a bit of pungent
sauce, nor did a dainty morsel ever pass her throat; her diet was in keeping
with her livestock shed. Overeating never was the cause of any sickness; her
only treatment was a temperate diet, with exercise and heart's content. The
gout never kept her from dancing, nor did the apoplexy bother her head. She
drank neither red wine nor white; her table was served for the most part with
white and black--milk and brown bread, of which she found no lack, with
broiled bacon and at times an egg or two, for she was a kind of dairy woman.
2846
She had a yard enclosed all around with sticks and a dry ditch, and in it she
had a cock, who was called Chanticleer. In all the land there was no match for
his crowing; his voice was merrier than the merry organ that goes in church on
mass-days. More trusty was his crowing in his yard than a clock or an abbey
timepiece; he knew by nature each coming of the hour in that place for when
each fifteen degrees were ascended, then he crowed so well that it could not
he bettered. His comb was redder than fine coral and crenellated like a castlewall. His black bill shone like jet; his legs and toes were like azure; his nails,
whiter than the lily flower; and his hue, like burnished gold. To do all his
pleasure, this noble cock had in his governance seven hens, his sisters and
paramours, and very much like him in their markings; of these the one with
the fairest hue on her throat was named lovely Mademoiselle Pertelote. 2870
She was courteous, discreet, generous and sociable, and bore herself so fairly
since she was seven nights old that truly she held the heart of Chanticleer
completely locked, and she bore the key. He loved her so that he was full of
happiness. But such a joy as it was to hear them sing in sweet accord when the
bright sun began to rise, "My love has gone to the country"--for at that time,
as I have learned, beasts and birds could sing and speak. 2881
Now it so came to pass, one day at dawn, as Chanticleer sat on his perch
among his wives in the hall, and next to this fair Pertelote, that he began to
groan in his throat as a man grievously troubled in his dream. When Pertelote

heard him roar this way, she was aghast, and said: "Oh dear heart, what ails
you to groan so? A fine sleeper you are; fie, for shame!" 2891
And he answered, "Madame, don't take it the wrong way, I pray you. It is
God's truth, I dreamed right now that I was in such trouble that my heart is
still sorely frightened. Now may God" he said, "let my dream be interpreted
favorably, and keep my body from foul prison! I dreamed how I roamed up
and down within our yard, and saw there a beast like a hound, who wished to
seize my body and kill me. He was between yellow and red in color, his tail
and ears tipped with black, unlike the rest of his coat; his snout was slender
and his two eyes glowing. For fear of his looks I almost die, even now. This
caused my groaning, without a doubt." 2907
"Shame!" she said. "Fie upon you, heartless coward! Alas! For by that God
above you have now lost my heart and all my love. In faith, surely, I cannot
love a coward. Regardless of what any woman will say, all of us desire to
have husbands bold, wise, and noble, and trusty with secrets, not a miser nor a
fool, nor afraid of every weapon, nor yet a boaster, by God above! How dare
you, for shame, say to your love that anything could make you afraid? Have
you not a man's heart, though you have a beard! Alas, can you be afraid of
dreams? 2921
"There is nothing in dreams but vanity, God knows. Dreams are engendered
by excess and often by vapors and by people's temperaments, when their
humors are too abundant in a creature. Truly this dream that you have
dreamed comes from a excess of your red choler. This causes people in their
dreams to have fear of arrows and of fire with red blazes, of huge beasts (that
they will bite them), of fighting, and great and small dogs; just as the
melancholy humor causes many people to cry out in sleep for fear of black
bears or black bull, or else that black devils will seize him as well. I could tell
also of other humors that cause woe to many men in sleep, but I will pass on
as lightly as I can. Lo, Cato, who was so wise, did he not say this: 'Take no
heed of dreams'? 2941
"Now sir," she said, "for the love of heaven, when we fly down from these
rafters, please take some laxative. On peril of my life and soul, I do not lie,
and I counsel you for the best, that you should purge yourself both of choler
and of melancholy, And since you should not delay, and because there is no
apothecary in this town, I will myself direct you to herbs that shall be for your
health and wellbeing; and I shall find the herbs in our yard that have the
natural property to purge you both beneath and above. Do not forget this, for
God's own love! You are completely choleric in your temperament. Beware,
lest the sun as he climbs up should find you full of hot humors. And if he
does, I dare lay a wager that you will have a tertian fever, or an ague that may
be the death of you. For a day or two you shall have a light diet of worms

before you take your laxatives--your spurge, laurel, centaury, and fumitory, or
hellebore, that grows there, your caper-spurge or buck-thorn berries, or herbivy growing in our yard, and pleasant to take. Peck them right up as they grow
and eat them up. By your father's soul, husband, be merry and fear no dreams.
I can say nothing else." 2969
"Madame," he said, "God have mercy, for your advice! But nevertheless, as to
Sir Cato, who has such a name for wisdom, though he instructed to fear no
dreams, by God, one may read in old books of many of more authority than
ever Cato had, who say the complete reverse of Cato's opinion, and have well
found by experience that dreams are significant both in the joys and the
tribulations that people endure in this present life. There is no need for
argument in this; experience itself shows it. 2983
"It is told by one of the greatest authors that one may read that once two
companions went with very good intentions on a pilgrimage, and it so
happened that they came into a town so full of people and so scant of lodgings
that they found not so much as one cottage where they could both be lodged.
Therefore they had to part company for that night, and each went to his
quarters as it would happen. One was lodged in a stall far off in a yard, with
plow-oxen; the other was well enough housed, as was his chance or his
fortune, which governs all of us. 3000
"It so happened that long before dawn this man dreamed, as he lay in his bed,
that his friend began to call upon him, saying, 'Alas! For I shall be murdered
in an ox's stall this night. Now help me, brother dear, before I die! Come to
me in all haste!" This man started out of his sleep for fear, but when he had
waked he turned over and took no heed of this, thinking his dream was only
vanity. Thus he dreamed twice in his sleep. And at the third time his fellow
seemed to come to him and say, 'I am now slain. Behold my wounds, deep,
wide, and bloody. Arise early in the morning, and at the west gate of the town
you shall see a dung-cart in which my body is secretly hidden; stop that cart
boldly. In truth, my gold caused my murder.' And with a pale pitiful face he
told him every point of how he was slain. 3023
"And trust well, his friend found the dream entirely true, for in the morning, at
earliest day, he took himself to his friend's lodging, and when he reached the
ox-stall, he began to shout after him. The inn-keeper answered directly, 'Sir,
your friend is gone. At daybreak he left the town.' This man began to become
suspicious, remembering his dream, and he went forth without delay to the
west gate of the town and found a dung-cart, ready to fertilize a field, and in
such condition as you have heard the dead man say. And with a bold heart he
began to call for vengeance and justice upon this felony. 'My friend is
murdered this very night and lies face upward and mouth open in this cart on

his back. I cry out upon the magistrates who should rule and watch over the
city. Help! Alas! Here my friend lies slain! 3842
"What more should I tell of this tale? The people rushed out, cast the dungcart over, and in the middle of the dung they found the dead man, freshly
murdered. O blessed God, faithful and just! Lo, how You always reveal
murder! Murder will be found out--we see that daily. Murder is so horrible
and abominable to the God of justice and reason that He will not permit it to
be covered up. Though it may lie hidden for years, murder will be found out:
this is my conclusion. And right away the magistrates seized the carter and
tortured him so sorely, and the inn-keeper as well, on the rack, that they soon
acknowledged their wickedness and were hanged by the neck. 3063
"We may see by this that dreams are to be feared. And surely I read in the
same book in the very next chapter (I do not lie, as I hope to be saved) about
two men that for a certain cause wished to pass over the sea into a distant
land, if the wind had not been adverse and made them to wait in a city
standing pleasantly on the shore of a haven. But shortly before dawn, in the
evening, the wind changed and blew just as they wished. Merry and glad they
went to rest, and planned to sail early. 3075
"But a great marvel came to one man as he lay asleep, who dreamed toward
day a wondrous dream. He thought a man stood beside his bed and ordered
him to wait; 'if you go, tomorrow, you shall be drowned; my tale is done.' He
woke and told his friend his dream, and prayed him to give up his journey. His
friend, who lay on the other side of the bed, began to laugh and sorely mocked
him. "No dream can so frighten my heart that I will stop my business; I would
not give a straw for your dreams, for dreams are but vanity and tricks. People
are always dreaming of owls or apes and of many other bewildering things;
they dream of things that never were nor shall be. But since I see that you
intend to stay here and thus by your free will lose your chance through sloth,
God knows, it will grieve me. But may you have a good-day!" 3097
"Thus he took his leave and departed. But before he had voyaged over half his
journey, I do not know why, or how that misfortune arose, but by some
mishap the ship's bottom was torn open, and ship and man went down in sight
of other ships that had sailed at the same time. 3104
"Therefore, fair Pertelote so dear, you may learn by such old examples that no
person should think too lightly of dreams, for I tell you that without doubt
many dreams are to be sorely feared. 3109
"Lo, I read in the life of St. Kenelm the son of Kenulph, the noble king of
Mercia, how he dreamed a dream; one day a little before he was murdered, he
saw his murder in a vision. His nurse expounded his entire dream and warned

him to beware of treason; but he was no more than seven years old and paid
little heed to any dream, so holy he was in spirit. By God, I would give up my
shirt to have you read his legend, as I have! I tell you truly, Madame Pertelote,
that Macrobius, who wrote the vision of the noble Scipio in Africa, affirms
dreams to be forewarnings of things that men see afterward. 3126
"Furthermore, I pray you look well in the Old Testament and see if Daniel
held dreams to be in vain. Read about Joseph also, and there you will find
whether dreams be sometimes (I say not always) warnings of future things.
Look at the king of Egypt, Sir Pharaoh, and at his baker and his butler, and see
if they felt no virtue in dreams! Whosoever wishes to turn to the chronicles of
various realms may read many wondrous things about them. 3137
"Lo, Croesus, once king of Lydia! Did he not dream that he sat upon a tree,
which signified that he would be hanged? Lo, Andromache, Hector's wife!
She dreamed the very night before the life of Hector should be lost if he went
that day into battle; she warned him, but it did not matter, for he went
nonetheless to fight, and soon after was slain by Achilles. 3148
"But that tale would be entirely too long to tell, and I must not delay, for it is
nearly day. In short, I conclude that I shall have adversity after this vision; and
I say, moreover, I put no confidence in laxatives. I know well that they are
poison; I defy them; I like them not a bit. Now let us speak of mirth, and stop
all this. God has greatly blessed me in one thing, Madame Pertelote, and thus I
have joy; for when I see how scarlet-red you are about your eyes, and the
beauty of your face, all my fear dies away. For as true as the Gospel of John
says, "Mulier est hominis confusio"; Madame, the meaning of this Latin is
that "Woman is all of man's bliss and joy!" 3166
"For when I feel your soft side at night--albeit I cannot ride on you, because
our perch is so narrow, alas--I am so full of joy and comfort that I defy all
dreams and visions." 3171
And with that, down he flew from the rafter, and with him all his hens, for it
was day. He began to call them all with a cluck, for he had found a grain of
corn lying in the yard. He was royal, and he was afraid no longer; twenty
times before prime he clasped Pertelote in his wings, and he coupled with her
just as often. He looked as if he were a grim lion, and roamed up and down on
his toes, he chose not to set his foot to ground. He clucked when he came
upon a grain of corn, and his wives ran to him. Thus royal, like a prince in his
hall, I will leave this Chanticleer in his feeding-ground, and afterward I will
say what happened to him. 3184
When March, the month in which the world was made, and when God first
created mankind, was complete, and there had passed thirty-two days since

March began, it happened that Chanticleer in all his glory, with his seven
wives walking beside him, cast his eyes to the bright sun, which had sped
through twenty-one degrees and somewhat more in the sign of Taurus. By
nature and not education he knew that it was prime, and he crowed with
joyous voice. "The sun," he said, "has climbed through the heavens forty-one
degrees and more. Madame Pertelote, my world's bliss, listen to how the
happy birds sing, and see the fresh flowers springing up; my heart is full of
revelry and joy." 3203
But suddenly a sorrowful event occurred. For the latter end of joy is always
woe, God knows. The joy of this world is soon gone, and if an orator could
compose beautifully, he could confidently write it in a chronicle as a notable
fact. Now let every wise man listen; this story is every bit as true, I dare
swear, as the book of Lancelot of the Lake, whom women hold in great
reverence. Now I will return to my text. 3214
A coal-fox, sly and unrighteous, who had dwelt three years in the grove, by
decree of almighty Providence burst through the hedges that same night into
the yard where stately Chanticleer was accustomed to stroll with his wives.
And there the fox lay quietly in a bed of cabbage until it was past eleven
o'clock, awaiting his time to fall upon Chanticleer, as do all these homicides
that lie in wait to murder men are glad to do. 3225
False murderer, lurking in your lair! You new Iscariot, new Ganelon, false
deceiver, just like the Greek Sinon that brought Troy utterly to woe! May that
morning be accursed, O Chanticleer, on which you flew from your rafter into
the yard! Well you were warned by your dreams that this day was perilous to
you. But what God foresees must come to pass, according to certain scholars.
You may witness it from any perfect scholar that there is great difference of
opinion in the schools and great disputation about this matter, and there
always has been among a hundred thousand people. 3239
But I cannot sift the wheat from the chaff, as can the holy doctor Augustine or
Boethius or Bishop Bradwardine; whether God's glorious foreknowledge
compels me by necessity to do a thing (by necessity I mean absolute
necessity), or if I am granted free choice to do or not that same thing, though
God foreknew it long before; or whether His knowing does not constrains at
all except by a conditional necessity. With such matters I will not concern
myself. 3251
My tale is all about a cock, as you may hear, who took his wife's counsel, to
his sorrow, to walk in the yard that morning, after he had dreamed his dream
of which I told you. Women's pieces of advice are often fatal. Woman's advice
brought us first to woe and made Adam depart from Paradise where he was
merry and at ease. But because I know not whom I might disturb if I should

insult women's advice, let us pass it over, for I said it only in sport. Read what
authors, who treat such matters, say of women. These are the cock's words
and not mine; I cannot imagine harm by any woman. 3266
Pertelote lay fairly in the sunshine with all her sisters nearby, bathing herself
merrily in the sand, and the gallant Chanticleer sang more merrily than the
mermaid in the sea; for Physiologus in truth says that they sing merrily and
well. And it so happened, as he cast his eye upon a butterfly among the
cabbages, that he noticed this fox who lay hidden. He had no mind then to
crow, but cried at once, "Cok! cok!" and started up like a man frightened in
his heart. For by instinct a beast is glad to flee from his natural enemy if he
should see it, even if he had never seen it with his eye before. 3281
This Chanticleer, when he first detected him, would have fled, except that the
fox immediately spoke, "Alas, gentle sir, where do you want to go? Are you
afraid of me, your own friend? Now surely I would be worse than a fiend if I
desired harm or indignity to you. I have not come to spy upon your privacy,
but in truth only to listen how you sing. For truly you have as merry a voice as
any angel in heaven, and more feeling in music than Boethius had, or any
singer. My lord your father (may God rest his soul), and your mother too, by
her courtesy, have been in my house, to my great content; and you, sir, I
would gladly please, surely. And speaking of singing, I must say, may I be
struck blind if I ever heard anyone, except you, sing as did your father in the
morning. 3302
"Surely, all that he sung was from the heart. And to make his voice stronger
he took such pains that he had to shut both his eyes, he cried so loud, standing
on tip-toe as well and stretching forth his long, slender neck. And he was also
of such discretion that there was no man in any land who could surpass him in
song or wisdom. 3311
"I have indeed read in the life of Burnel the Ass, among the verses, about a
cock, who, because a priest's son, when he was young and foolish, gave him a
rap on his leg, in after years made him to lose his estate. But certainly there is
no comparison between his wisdom and subtlety and discretion and your
father's. Now sing, sir, for sweet charity's sake. Let's see--can you imitate your
father?" 3321
Chanticleer began to flap his wings, like one who could not detect his
treachery, so ravished he was by the flattery. Alas! You lords, in your courts
are many false flatterers and parasites, who please you more, in faith, than he
who tells you the truth. Read about flatterers in Ecclesiasticus, and beware of
their treachery. 3330

Chanticleer stood high on his toes, stretching his neck and shutting his eyes,
and began to crow loudly. Up started Sir Russel the fox at once, seized
Chanticleer by the throat and bore him away on his back toward the wood, for
as yet nobody gave chase. 3337
O destiny that may not be eluded! Alas that Chanticleer flew down from the
rafters and that his wife did not care about dreams! And all this bad fortune
fell on a Friday! O Venus, goddess of pleasure, why would Chanticleer, who
was your servant and did all within his might in your service (more for delight
than to multiply the world), endure to die upon your day? 3346
O Geoffrey de Vinsauf, dear sovereign master, who when your noble king
Richard was slain by shot did mourn his death so sorely, why do I not have
your learning and your pen now to reproach Friday as you did! (For truly it
was on a Friday he was slain.) Then I would show you how I could mourn
Chanticleer's dread and torment. Not since Ilium was won and Pyrrhus had
seized King Priam by the beard and slain him with his drawn sword, as the
Aeneid says, was ever such cry and lamentation made by ladies as by the hens
in the yard, when they saw this sight of Chanticleer. 3361
Above all Madame Pertelote shrieked, louder than Hasdrubal's wife when her
husband perished and the Romans had burned Carthage; she was so full of
torment and frenzy that she leapt into the fire and burned herself with a
steadfast heart. O woeful hens, even so you cried as did the senators' wives
when Nero burned the city of Rome and their guiltless husbands all perished,
slain by this Nero. 3373
But now I return to my tale once more. This poor widow and her two
daughters heard these hens cry and lament, and started out the door
immediately and saw the fox make toward the wood, bearing the cock away
on his back. "Out! Alas! Help!" they cried. "Ho! Ho! The fox!" and after him
they ran, and many other people with cudgels. Colle, our dog, ran, and
Garland and Talbot, and Malkin with her distaff in hand; the cow and calf ran
and the hogs themselves, so afraid were they for the barking of the hounds and
the shouting of the men and women; they ran till they thought their hearts
would burst. 3388
They yelled like fiends in hell. The ducks quacked as if they were being
slaughtered, and the geese in fear flew over the tree-tops. A swarm of bees
came out of the hive, so hideous was the noise. Ah God bless! Surely Jack
Straw and his rabble never made shouts half so shrill when they were
slaughtering a Fleming, as were made this day after the fox. They brought
horns of brass, of wood, of horn and bone, and blew and bellowed in them,
and so shrieked and whooped indeed until it seemed as if the heavens would
drop. 3402

Now, good men, I pray you all listen. Lo, how Fortune suddenly overturns the
hope and arrogance of her foe! This cock, lying upon the fox's back, in all his
fright spoke to the fox and said, "Sir, if I were you, so may God help me, I
should say, 'Turn back, all you proud churls! May a true pestilence fall on
you! Now that I have come to this wood's edge, the cock shall remain here, in
spite of anything you can do. I will eat him, in faith, and do so at once.'" 3413
"In faith, it shall be done," answered the fox. And as he spoke that word, at
once the cock broke away nimbly from his mouth and flew immediately high
upon a tree. 3418
And when the fox saw the cock was gone, "Alas! Chanticleer!" he said; "alas!
I have done you wrong to frighten you, when I seized and brought you out of
the yard." 3421
"But, sir, I had no ill intent; come down and I shall tell you what I meant. I
shall tell the truth to you, so may God help me!" 3425
"No then," said the cock, "I curse both of us, and first I curse myself, both
blood and flesh, if you should trick me more than once. No more shall your
flattery make me sing and shut my two eyes. For he who willfully shuts his
eyes when be should see, may God let him never thrive!" 3432
"No," said the fox, "but God give him bad fortune who is so indiscreet as to
prattle when he should hold his peace!" 3435
Lo, such a thing it is to be negligent and heedless and trust flattery! But you
who maintain this tale to be foolishness, about nothing but a fox and a cock
and a hen, take the moral, good sirs. For St. Paul says that all that is written is
written for our learning, in truth. Take the fruit and leave the chaff. And now
may the good God, if His will be so, as says my lord, make us all good
Christians and bring us to His heavenly bliss. Amen 3446
Here is ended the Nun's Priest's Tale.
[Epilogue]
"Sir Nun's Priest," said our Host, "may your breeches be blessed for this merry
tale of Chanticleer! By my word, if you were a secular man, a very hearty
fellow you would be with women. See what brawn and what a neck this gentle
priest has, and what a chest! He looks with his eyes like a sparrow-hawk. He
does not need to dye his color with brasil or Portugal. Now may goodness
come to you for your tale, sir! 3460
And after that, with a merry look, he spoke to another as you shall hear. 3462

Translated and Edited by Gerard NeCastro Copyright, 2007, All Rights

Reserved
Citation. Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Nun's Priest's Tale. NeCastro, Gerard, ed.
and trans. eChaucer: http://www.umm.maine.edu/faculty/necastro/chaucer
Updated June 15, 2011